Winnebago Man (2009)

Winnebago Man, a documentary about one director's search for his favorite YouTube sensation, begins with said sensation, Jack Rebney, yelling at the director to just leave him alone. This is an interesting place to start because it kind of sets up the director, the person we'll be following on his journey to find Jack, as a jerk. Lucky for the viewer, this does not end up being the case. Rather, Winnebago Man becomes a humorous exploration of Internet fame and the responsibility of the fan/filmmaker.

Jack Rebney became Internet famous because of a viral video of outtakes from a Winnebago commercial he made back in 1988. In these outtakes, Rebney becomes hilariously furious with the intern, flies, the heat, and pretty much everything else. This video became legendary in found footage circles due both to its hilarity and the fact that Jack had disappeared after making it. Here was a man uninterested in capitalizing on his 15 minutes of fame, a concept unheard of in our reality TV-saturated world. Ben Steinbauer became obsessed with the video of this "Angriest Man in the World" and set out to make a documentary about his search for Jack Rebney. The result is alternately amusing and oddly touching. You can find Winnebago Man in the library catalog here.